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Bills open at home vs. Colts Sept. 13, play two prime-time games

The Buffalo Bills open their 2015 regular season at home against the Indianapolis Colts and have two prime-time games, the NFL announced Tuesday night in unveiling the entire league slate.

The Bills play a pair of prime-time games on the road. The first is against coach Rex Ryan's former team, the New York Jets, on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football on Nov. 12.

Then, in their next game, the Bills face the New England Patriots on ESPN's Monday Night Football on Nov. 23. That will mark the Bills' first Monday night appearance since 2009, ending the league's longest MNF drought.

The first two games are part of a three-game stretch of games the Bills will play on the road. The third is at Kansas City on Nov. 29.

The Bills close the season against the Jets on Jan. 3 at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Here are some quick hits on the Bills' schedule:

Long road stretch: During that stretch of three consecutive road games, the Bills have five road games in six weeks from Nov. 12, when they face the Jets at MetLife Stadium, through Dec. 20, when they travel to Washington. The last time that happened was in 1991. That was during the Bills' Super Bowl run, and they won five of those games between Weeks 11-16 on the way to a 13-3 finish.

Calm before the storm?: Before the Bills hit that brutal road stretch, they seemingly have a chance to sort of ease their way into the early part of the season with their first two games at home and their next four games at Miami, home against the New York Giants, at Tennessee, and home against Cincinnati.

Making home history: For the first time in franchise history, the Bills will open and close the season with back-to-back home games: the Colts and Patriots to open, the Cowboys and Jets to close.

Rex looks to build on opening success: During his six seasons as coach of the Jets, Ryan had a 5-1 record in openers.

Racking up the mileage: Counting the London game, the Bills will travel a total of 14,954 miles in round trips, according to the team.

Home for the holidays: The Bills close the regular season with back-to-back home games against Dallas, on Dec. 27, and the Jets, on Jan. 3. That's the first time that has happened since 1995.

*Could be impacted by flexible scheduling, moving between CBS & Fox, and could move to NBC's Sunday Night Football between Weeks 11-17.

Vic Carucci – Vic Carucci covers the Bills and NFL for The News. With four decades of experience as a pro football writer and broadcaster, he is a co-host on SiriusXM NFL Radio and a Pro Football Hall of Fame selector. Vic has authored 10 books about football (including multiple New York Times best-sellers) and is a past president of the Professional Football Writers of America.